Piano plate and sounding board



Sept. 14,1926. I 1,599,697

A. WEBER PIANO PLATE AND SOUNDINGBOARD.

Filed July s. 1924 2 sheets-sheet 1 CENTER mss/s lill .l 'fl I N VEN TOR.

Web er sept. 14, 192e. 1599,697

4A. WEBER 9 Filed July 5 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m9 III mill.---

liiillllllllmllll INVENToR.

USA E-hEr Patented Sept. 14, 1.926.

UNITED STATES AUGUST WEBER, 0F LAWRENCE, KANSAS.

PIANOl PLATE AND SOUNDING BOARD.

Application led July 5,

This invention relates to pianos, and more particularly to the plate and sounding board therefor.'

It is an object of this invention to provide a plate and sounding board for pianos that will produce, with and through the scale, a tone of than has hereto ore been obtainable from pianos such as are now being manufactured.

It is a further objectof the invention to provide a heavier' and stronger plate for the scale which is also formed with an additional treble barl or support to eliminate 'the tendency to weaken or 've.

An even further object of this linvention is the provision of a convexo-concave sounding board to be used in conjunction with the above-mentipned plate, and which is braced and held in' shape by a plurality of ribs,

spaced in a special manner and extending angularlyacross the back of said sounding board and so formed to hold the desire convexity within said board."

With these and other objects in view, which will become more apparent in the following description and disclosures in the drawings, the invention comprises the novel features of construction hereinafter deseveral views,-

scribed and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompan ing drawings which illustrate a preferre embodiment of the invention, and in which similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the Figure 1 is a face view of a iano plate positioned in front of the soun ing board and having most of the strings removed for clearness. 1

Figure 2 is a central horizontal. section through the, late and sounding board taken on line II- I, showing, in an exaggerated way, the convex face of the sounding board. Fi re 3 is a rear elevation of the sounding ard embodying the invention, showing the braces and new method of spacing the same.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken on line IVf-IV of Fig. 1, looking in the direction` of the arrow.

For the purpose of' illustrating and ex laining the operationof the invention. 1 have shown the same incorporated in an upright piano, but it must be understood that the invention may be used in any piano reater power and qualityy i924. vserial iro. 724,276.

using a plate with a -Referring now to thedrawings, and more i particularly `to that ortion illustrating the sounding board 5 wiiich is formed with a convex face and made approximately twice as thick at the center than nat its periphery, as. clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The thickness of Athe board tapers gradually from the center to the edges.

Sounding board 5 has a fiat border 6 `extending entirely around the edge that is used 1n securing the board to main casing 7 'of the piano. A plurality of ribs 8 arranged iii parallel relation and at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, serve asV braces to maintain the convexity of. sounding board 5. These braces 8 are spaced at varying distances from each other, as shownin Fig. 3, to correspond withthe Stringing arrangement on the plate. Those braces 8 located behind the treble scale are closer together than the ones behind the bass and longer center scale strings. This distance is of great importance and varies from substantially live inches at the bass corner to two inches at the op osite or treble corner.` Mute braces 8l exten ing at I'i ht angles to braces 8, are also arranged wit s ecial regard to the sti-inging. A soundin ard construct- -ed in accordance with this invention, possesses t-he`power to remainy in shape after the pressure is exerted on. the bridges 9 and 10, and after once set produces a tone of larger resonance and higher quality than has heretofore been possible. Weather couditions and constant string pressure will have no effect on the sounding board and, obviously, the instrument will' remain in better tune.

In placing thesounding boardv 5 in the piano, an initial convexity of ap roximately two and one-half inches is established and the pressure due to Stringing allowed to force v the saine back to substantially one and threefourths inches. Further dishing-back during the 4life of the piano is thereby eliminated.. I f l y Plate 11 may be made with fextra heavy l cross bars 12 and 13 to strengthen the same. A `support 14 connecting the large gap near the treble scale produces a desired rigidity, and eliminates the possibility of breaking. A tapering bar 15 also is added to strengthen the plate.

l Bars l2, 13 and l5 constitute the breaks in Stringing around which the majority of faulty notes are found in pianos now on the market. A. new division, formed by these bars, and the varying string lengths, together with the combinational use of plate 1l and sounding board 5, produces a result not before attained. The string number with their locations are as follows:

12 single bass strings.

32 double bass strings.

9G center register strings.

84 treble strings.

I claim:

l. In combination, in a piano plate and sounding board assembly, a plurality of single bass, double bass, center register and treble strings carried by said plate, a conveXo-concave sounding board positioned adjacent said plate having bridges on the convex face thereof in contact with said strings and a plurality of braces rigidly secured to the concave back, disposed at an angle to the sides thereof and parallel to each other,

L the distance apart of said braces gradually decreasing from the location behind said plurality of single bass strings as the location behind said plurality of treble strings is approached.

2. In combination, in a piano late and sounding board assembly, a plurality of single bass, double bass, center -register and treble strings respectively "cari'ied by said plate, a convexe-concave sounding board positioned adjacent said plate having bridges on the convex face thereof in contact with said strings, means for securing s aid plate to the edge of -said board and a plurality of braces rigidly secured to the concave back, said plurality of braces including a pair of parallel mute braces crossing a portion of said board from one edge-to another adjacent diagonally opposite corners thereof and a series of parallel braces rigid to and extending across the concave back between said mute braces and at right angles thereto, said series of braces being Wider apart at the 1ocation behind the plurality of single bass strings and gradually decreasing in distance apart as the location behind said plurality of treble strings is approached.

3. A piano sounding board comprising a tapering convexo-concave board having its thickest portion at the center of convexity, a plurality of parallel braces across the back of said board and conforming to the contour thereof, the distance between said braces varying in accordance with the tone vibrations of the scale behind which they are positioned.

4. A piano soundinfir conveXo-concave board surface adjacentto and facin the plate and scale of the piano and a plura ity o parallel braces across the back of said board with the distance between said braces varied in ac coi-dance with the tone vibrations of the scale behind which they are positioned.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set' my signature this 2nd day of July, 1924.

AUGUST WEBER.

board'comprising a having its convex 

